Battle of the Books

I'm working with area librarians to see if some young people are interested in participating in a region-wide Battle of the Books competition to be held in the spring or summer of 2009. Teams will be comprised of four young people who will represent area libraries. We're thinking of leaving this open to students currently in grades 6-12.

Read about how a competition like this might work here or here, though official rules and procedures for this competition would be provided to participating teams.

If you may be interested in participating, email Lori: lrohol[at]tds.lib.mn.us or call 359-8334. You don't need to have a team in mind to express interest!

Update: Area librarians have come up with the official reading list for our Battle of the Books competition:

1. House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
2. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
3. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
4. Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
5. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
6. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

We've also set a tentative competition date: Saturday, July 11 in Mankato. More details to come!

Recent Films

What's your take on the upcoming film "New in Town"? (See the YouTube video and viewers' comments here and the article from the Journal here).

And did you see Twilight? What did you think?

The Swap Bin

You'll find a new fixture in the YA area: the Swap Bin. It's located under the zines and it's a take-something, leave-something free-for-all. I've stocked it with some scratch paper, bookmarks, and rubber bands to start--just some library surplus items--and you're welcome to contribute, too. If you see something you can use for a handmade project or anything else, feel free to take it!

The main stipulation is that items should fit inside the bin. Enjoy!

November 7

YA DVDs and talking books have moved

You can now find DVDs and audiobooks for young adults along with our DVDs and audiobooks for adults, still on the second floor. The catalog will still include 'Young Adult' in the call number and you'll find the yellow YA sticker on DVD and audiobook cases. Only their shelf location has changed.

Moving these items makes more room for YA books. And you've got one less spot to browse for movies and audiobooks!

Please feel free to post any comments about this change or anything you notice about how collections in the library are arranged.

Visiting Authors and Artists

Three interesting guests are scheduled to visit the library in coming weeks: as part of the Minnesota Book Awards Fall Author Series, photographer and author Wing Young Huie will visit on Tuesday, October 21 at 7 p.m., and author Catherine Friend on Thursday, November 6, also at 7 p.m. More information about these authors and their work is available at the library's Events Calendar.

Also on the calendar is a visit from watercolor artist Ann Martin on Saturday, October 25. She will discuss her work in a presentation at 2 p.m. in the library's lower-level meeting room, as well as displaying examples of her work.

All events are free and open to the public.

Book Club Bags

You can check out book bags with multiple (usually 10-12) copies of the same title.  At our library, they're located near the new fiction and magazines on the main level.  To find these in our online catalog, choose "Book club bag" as the item "Type" in an Advanced Search.

Currently, we don't have any YA titles available as book club bags.  Would you use book club bags with YA titles?  If so, what are some titles you'd like to see in bags?

"Are You Smarter Than a Librarian?" is Back!

The library will host another round of our very own game show tomorrow night (Tuesday, September 23) at 7 p.m. in the library's lower-level meeting room. Details can be found here.

All in attendance will be eligible to play, but those who would like to watch are also welcome. Prizes will be awarded!

Great Spots for Study

The library is full of good spots to study or read--these are just a couple. Both individuals and small groups are welcome to use these areas. Plus, wireless Internet access is available throughout the building.

Poetry Workshop on Tuesday, September 9

Students in grades 6-9 are invited to attend a poetry workshop led by Emily Graves, a former New Ulm student and published author. Meet in the Young Adult area of the library at 4:00 p.m. The workshop will run until 6:00 p.m. You can register at the main desk on the first floor, but walk-ins are welcome, too.

Thanks to Summer Reading Participants

Thanks to all who participated in the Summer Reading Program for Young Adults. We received almost 400 book reviews, most of which you can find here. We also received almost 60 Reading Challenge entries. Way to go!

Feel free to post any suggestions for next year's program here. One idea is to run the program through the beginning of the school year so you can submit even more reviews.

The big blue outlet is still available!

The Magazine Exchange

One of my favorite things about our library is the magazine exchange. Here's how it works: if you see a magazine you like on the rack, take it! If you have magazines at home that you're all done with, bring them to the library's main desk and we'll put them out on the rack for others. Simple, eh? It's located between the main desk and the stairs to the children's area, so you can't miss it.

Today's the Last Day!

Submit your Summer Reading Program entries by closing time today (8 p.m.) to be eligible for prizes. Winners will be notified following the drawing held tomorrow, Wednesday, August 6.

The giant blue outlet is still up for grabs!

If you'd like to continue writing book reviews to be posted to the teen section of the website, please let me know.

The Summer Reading Program for Young Adults is Winding Down!

You've got a few days left to submit your review forms and 'Reading Challenge' entries for the Summer Reading Program! Get those in by Tuesday, August 5. Drawings will be held on Wednesday, August 6. Winners will, of course, be notified.

Does anyone want the giant blue outlet when the program's all done?

Activities on Wednesday, July 23

The Teen Advisory Group (TAG) and Teen Book Club will meet on July 23 (Wednesday) at 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. respectively. All young people (ages 12-18) are welcome to attend. Meet in the Young Adult area of the library on the second floor.

Prepare for Book Club by reading Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. We will watch the 2007 movie based on the book and discuss the stories.

Lest We Think Life Happened in Black and White

The Library of Congress has posted this and other images from the 1930s and 1940s on Flickr. I don't know about you, but I find these folks more relatable in color.

Do You Re-Read?

When I was little, I must have read every picture book by Bill Peet a dozen times, and I've heard of people reading the books in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series over and over. Do you re-read favorite books? If so, are books even better the second (or third or fourth) time around?

Activities on June 23

The Teen Advisory Group (TAG) and the Teen Book Club will meet on Monday, June 23 at 2:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. respectively (note that this is a different day than originally advertised).

At the TAG meeting, we will talk about the Summer Reading Program, new young adult materials, and ideas for upcoming activities.

Read Homer's Odyssey (any translation or retelling will do) for book club. We will watch the Coen Brothers film O Brother Where Art Thou? and compare the stories.

Meet in the YA area for the TAG meeting. We will then move to the lower level meeting room for to show the film and discuss.

All young people (ages 12 through 18) are welcome at TAG and Book Club.

Have You Signed Up for the Summer Reading Program Yet?

That's right, the Summer Reading Program isn't just for the Knuffle Bunny crowd anymore. The library has a Summer Reading Program for Young Adults, too. If you've participated in the past, things are largely the same this year: read books and review them. We will draw from your reviews for prizes at the end of the summer. A couple of new features:

• Reading Challenges. Complete these challenges to be entered in a separate drawing. Details and entry forms are in the young adult section of the library.
• Your reviews can appear on our website. With your permission when you register, we will post your comments and star ratings on our website at the end of the program. Ideally, we'll end up with a localized reader recommendation service.

Check out the program's details in the young adult section. That's where you'll submit your completed review forms, too. Then sign up at the main desk. It's all so simple. And you'll get some stuff just for signing up.

Volunteers Needed

Our Children’s Department needs volunteers to help participants (ages 1-12) register for our children’s Summer Reading Program.

• Help is primarily needed on the first day of registration: Monday, June 2. Help on other days would be appreciated, too!

• No special skills are required—just a willingness to help get kids started on their summer reading. Our staff members will tell you all you need to know.

• Contact Lori, Diane Z., or Carla at the library if you would like to help. You can email Lori at lrohol@tds.lib.mn.us. Thank you!

May's Patron of the Month

Hooray for Stephanie! (from The New Ulm Journal, Thursday, May 15, 2008)

Zines have arrived

These mostly self-published works are available for checkout and are in our online catalog (www.newulmlibrary.org, then 'Catalog'. Type 'zines' and select 'word or phrase' or 'subject').

I'm interested to hear your comments on the newest addition to the young adult area!

Any Handbook for Healthy Living

We have this book on the YA nonfiction shelf of the library. I'd like a good, up-to-date replacement, but I'm having trouble finding something so general but still age-specific. Any suggestions?

Library Game Show Tonight

Haven't you always wanted to be on a game-show? Tonight is your chance. Come to the library at 7 p.m. and put your name in a drawing to be a contestant in "Are You Smarter Than a Librarian?" (or just come and watch). You'll answer trivia questions and try to respond correctly to more questions than our 9-member library panel. Prizes will be awarded!

"Cautionary Tales for Teens"

Martin Tahse's After School Specials are a new addition to the YA DVD collection. This article does a good job of describing both the context in which these shows were created and originally received, and how they might come off now. It turns out they were never supposed to be hilarious.

Try out some of these shows (there are scads!), then see if you agree with this statement from the article:

"Indeed, today's teenagers are precociously cynical; raised on Harry Potter and MTV, Cook says, they are more accustomed to dark themes and quick cuts. They prefer TV to talk to them sideways, from odd angles. If her students today saw an After School Special, she says, 'they'd puke. . . . They would find it draggy.'"

Browse-worthiness

I'm terribly fascinated by the PostSecret books (there's also a blog and a community), compiled by Frank Warren. I wouldn't check them out, though, if you can't afford to be distracted.

Since I'm not really anonymous it's not the same, but here's my secret: I tell people that librarians don't get to read all day (and we don't), but I squeeze in all the book browsing I can.

Book Club Discussion

Let's see if we can't get a discussion going on Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin, the New Ulm Public Library's Teen Book Club selection for March. Feel free to comment on anything you liked or disliked about the book, and raise questions of your own.

If you'd like some direction to get started (and because I do like those typewriters), comment on the symbolism of Naomi being found in a typewriter case as a baby.

Pet Subjects

I like to keep tabs on my old place of employment by checking in on MADreads, featuring commentary on books read by staff members.

A fairly recent post mentioned 'pet subjects.' Do you have one? Or a few? One of mine would be wilderness living, as in Helen and Scott Nearing's Living the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World or Justine Kerfoot's Woman of the Boundary Waters: Canoeing, Guiding, Mushing, and Surviving.

National Poetry Month

April, National Poetry Month, is in full swing. Submit your favorite poems, original or not, to the library (or email them to me), and we'll post them on our "Poetry Wall" near the main desk on the first floor. (Be sure to give authorship credit where it's due!) Or come and browse the poems already posted.




Upstairs in the YA area, poems of particular interest to young people are on display near the rear wall.

Social Reading Online

LibraryThing and Goodreads are two sites that facilitate the social side of reading. LibraryThing allows you to organize your book collection and view the collections of others; you can use Goodreads to list books you've read and share them with friends (think MySpace but with a reading focus). Both sites have other cool features, as well.

Feel free to pass along word of any other sites like these!

April 1

(Re)discovering the library

Isn't it funny how we can grow up with the library but still forget how great it is? A blog post from a re-appreciator. And check out the post on a commenter's blog detailing a library workers' strike in Victoria, British Columbia.

Typewriting

The library has typewriters and they work. I say this, not because I expect that you'll come right over and type up your 8-page English paper, but because they are, for lack of a better word, cool. Find them on the second floor near the 700s (and near the reference librarian--someone who can help).

Spoken word

Do you listen to audiobooks?

Bill Holm's visit

Bill Holm, the last author in our 2008 Author Series, postponed his visit scheduled for tonight because of poor weather for travel. His appearance is rescheduled for Tuesday, April 1 at 7 p.m. in the library's lower level meeting room.

He should prove to be an interesting and thought-provoking speaker, given his extensive teaching, his life and interest in Iceland, and his creative writing alone and in collaboration with others. The event is free and all are welcome to attend.

Does Wikipedia work for you?

If I want to do any quick fact-checking, my favorite online source is Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia. Many librarians will frown on my choice of sources, since anyone (gasp!) can create or edit Wikipedia entries. To put a more positive spin on that fact, the Wikimedia Foundation says, "Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment."

My qualms with relying on Wikipedia for factual accuracy were explored (and assuaged) by this New York Times Magazine article. See what you think! (If you have trouble accessing the article via the link, make a quick comment and I'll explain another way to find it.)

Congratulations, Knowledge Bowlers!

Congratulations to NUHS's Team Purple in their advance to the regional Knowledge Bowl competition, and good luck in Mankato!

If trivia (in a fun, relaxed atmosphere) is your thing, save this date: Tuesday, April 29. The library will be hosting a game show pitting contestants (chosen randomly from all interested attendees) against a panel of library staff members. Prizes will be awarded! The event is free, open to the public (though questions will be most appropriate for folks of high school age and older), and will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Blog leads to blog leads to blog

Are you traveling widely in the blogosphere? If so, tell us about your favorite blogs in a comment here.

If you're just starting to explore, see People Reading or, for a dense community effort, Metafilter.

Scavenger Hunt #3

There's a scavenger hunt especially for young adults running at the library! Winners receive ten Chamber Dollars for use at local Chamber of Commerce member businesses.

• Pick up an entry form in the young adult area or near the computers at the reference desk.
• Read the instructions and rules on the back of the form.
• Find the answers anywhere.
• Turn in your completed form at the main check-out desk.
• Wait for the drawing date when a winner will be drawn from all correct entries.
• The next drawing and the posting of Scavenger Hunt #4 will be on Friday, March 14.

Hint for Scavenger Hunt #3: The mathematical constant 'celebrated' on March 14 is used in finding the circumference or area of a circle when you know its radius.

We'll start with an easy one

What are you reading right now? How do you like it?

Welcome

I'm Lori, one of the librarians at the New Ulm Public Library, and I'll be mediating this blog especially for young adults in the area. I hope you will find this a fun and useful forum for discussing books, technology, and your library. Comments are welcome! (Please note, however, that I will not allow posting of any containing disrespectful or crude remarks.)

I hope that, like the library, you will enjoy this forum, share your ideas, and return often!